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Topic: AKG CK1's sound test (Read 3211 times)

I ran two pairs of AKG CK1's last night and they sound very different. This is DJ Williams Shots Fired at Winston's. It's lacking vocals since it's a stage tape, but I was testing mics and didn't care about the vox. I'm buying James Bartoli's mics and wanted to test them first. I have 460's with black CK1's and 452's with silver CK1's. Both pair were on stage ORTF and sound great, but one pair is lacking on the low end. I'm hoping you that someone else can listen to them and see what they think.

I still need to test the silvers on the 460's. Will do that one next. My plan is to run the 460/CK8's at MSG with my MK4's, but want to make sure the 460 bodies are good. The last pair I tested was unable to keep a capsule powered for the complete show so I'm trying another pair he has.

Didn't get a chance to listen, as Im at work but have made a change to running 460/480 bodies a lot lately beacause Ive found the actives have no "balls" as one friend described it. Im not sure if the actives are the ones your noticing not bringing lows but if so Ive noticed the same with my 61>actives.

Didn't get a chance to listen, as Im at work but have made a change to running 460/480 bodies a lot lately beacause Ive found the actives have no "balls" as one friend described it. Im not sure if the actives are the ones your noticing not bringing lows but if so Ive noticed the same with my 61>actives.

Well than my statement isnt much help. I have had a bunch of issues with finding the right bodies as well. Couple too low of an output, signal fading, popping. Its been a challenge but things are coming around finally and im pretty happy with the results. Ill take a listen in the morning and see if i can help out with any useful feedback.

Well than my statement isnt much help. I have had a bunch of issues with finding the right bodies as well. Couple too low of an output, signal fading, popping. Its been a challenge but things are coming around finally and im pretty happy with the results. Ill take a listen in the morning and see if i can help out with any useful feedback.

I'm gonna borrow friends bodies to use with the CK8's I bought, till I can afford new 480's. I'm starting to notice that these mics are not good to buy used. I have a matched pair of schoeps which spoiled me.

Yeah, that's a whole different ballgame with your shoeps. Ive had some matched pairs of lower tier mics and got used to setting levels at pretty much a similar spot on a pre-amp. Then I started messing with then akg's and started getting like What the!?!? I started using the actives and it made things a lot closer, but for a while trying to find something close with used second hand 460 and 480 bodies was kind of a nightmare. The things were all over the place. Im definitely psyched to be getting some decent 480's next week myself from a friend as well. I borrowed a pair for a bit and fell in love. I love the 460's but there a little on the tubby side where the 480's are pretty much exactly what I like listening to. Crisp and bright with a sweet plump under carriage.

Also I have ck8's with A60's if you don't have your own and ever needed to use them out here. There pretty much mint and I could probly send em with Andy to MSG if you needed? You wouldn't have to fly with em.

Also I have ck8's with A60's if you don't have your own and ever needed to use them out here. There pretty much mint and I could probly send em with Andy to MSG if you needed? You wouldn't have to fly with em.

That really cool of you but I may end up sending back a bunch of cash instead of the mics

Does anyone have a contact for akg repair\service for Charlie? Rematching of mics within a certain standard deviation or range should be a common problem they've encountered. I'm sure they would charge you but they should repair them right? I'm a little spoiled with mbhos lifetime warranty - had my cards sent in after 16 years use no questions asked and no charge. Took 2 months to get them back from Europe though (hand made caps).

Before I bought my first pair of SDC mics I knew I really liked the 140's and the CCM4 but the 480's and 414's just never made me tingle the way that other mics did. Needless to say that I ran 140's for over 10 years and am now all Schoeps, including the CCM4's.

Does anyone have a contact for akg repair\service for Charlie? Rematching of mics within a certain standard deviation or range should be a common problem they've encountered. I'm sure they would charge you but they should repair them right? I'm a little spoiled with mbhos lifetime warranty - had my cards sent in after 16 years use no questions asked and no charge. Took 2 months to get them back from Europe though (hand made caps).

Rich Lands at Lands Audio is the US AKG guy. Not sure if thats what he needs though.

Does anyone have a contact for akg repair\service for Charlie? Rematching of mics within a certain standard deviation or range should be a common problem they've encountered. I'm sure they would charge you but they should repair them right? I'm a little spoiled with mbhos lifetime warranty - had my cards sent in after 16 years use no questions asked and no charge. Took 2 months to get them back from Europe though (hand made caps).

Rich Lands at Lands Audio is the US AKG guy. Not sure if thats what he needs though.

The newer 451B is definitely a different mic than the old 451/CK1. Many engineers really find the vintage CK1 sound more pleasant (when in good shape, of course).

Richard Land isn't super cheap, but he will get your gear in "like-new" condition, and was the AKG "official" repair option. Not sure if that's still the case or not.I love AKG gear, but I will agree that some of the older stuff is starting to deteriorate and needs attention/repair. Once it gets worked on, it should be good for another 20 years or so.

@obaaron brought his 460/ck1's and we did some tests. We swapped caps and discovered that it's one of the caps that's bad. When I used his caps on my bodies it came out great. The issue followed the caps. That I can deal with, it's easy to find caps. So I now have a working pair of 460/ck8's.

Don't. They're transformerless. The ck1's are at their best with the 460's. Trust me. I've run the 460/ck1 combo for years......

The 460's are working so I'm buying them.

my m46 and ck1xs are in the YS if there is interest.

what is a ck1xs?

The CK1x, 2x, 3x are electret caps designed to be used only with the MK46 extension cable or active cable if you want to call it that. The MK46 cable works with 460 bodies only. The CK1x caps are not the same as CK1 caps.

Edit to add: I now see you may be asking what a CK1xs cap is. No such thing. I think he is just referring to a pair.

Don't. They're transformerless. The ck1's are at their best with the 460's. Trust me. I've run the 460/ck1 combo for years......

The 460's are working so I'm buying them.

my m46 and ck1xs are in the YS if there is interest.

what is a ck1xs?

The CK1x, 2x, 3x are electret caps designed to be used only with the MK46 extension cable or active cable if you want to call it that. The MK46 cable works with 460 bodies only. The CK1x caps are not the same as CK1 caps.

Edit to add: I now see you may be asking what a CK1xs cap is. No such thing. I think he is just referring to a pair.